0604-16 New York Times Crossword Answers 4 Jun 16, Saturday

Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies
Across
15. Hollywood star whose grandfather was the Cuban patriot José Martí : CESAR ROMERO
Cesar Romero was an American actor of Cuban descent from New York. He played a wide variety of roles on the big screen, but is remembered by many for playing the Joker on the “Batman” television show in the sixties.

José Martí was a Cuban writer and political activist who became a symbol for his country’s movement to gain independence from Spain in the 1800s, earning him the nickname “Apostle of Cuban Independence”. Martí was killed in action in a battle against Spanish troops in 1895. Martí’s biological grandson was Hollywood actor Cesar Romero.

16. Home of the city and county of Waterford: Abbr. : IRE
Waterford is in the southeast of Ireland It is the oldest city in the whole country, having been founded by the Vikings in 914CE. Waterford’s most famous business entity is Waterford Crystal.

17. 1980s electronic innovation from Detroit : TECHNO MUSIC
Techno is a type of electronic dance music that originated in Detroit in the eighties. Techno involves a heavy beat in common time, and what seems to be a lot of repetition. Not for me …

18. Sprint Cup Series sponsor : STP
STP is a brand name for automotive lubricants and additives. The name STP comes from “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”.

In the world of NASCAR, what was called the Nextel Cup in 2004-2007, is now known as the Sprint Cup (as Sprint took over Nextel). Prior to 2004, the prize was called the Winston Cup.

21. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Dan : ISSEL
Dan Issel is a retired basketball player who played for the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA, and the Denver Nuggets of the NBA.

23. Opera genre for “Tosca” and “Pagliacci” : VERISMO
Verismo is a genre of opera born in the early 1900s that reflected real life as opposed to fanciful diversions. “Verismo” translates from Italian is “realism”.

Unlike so many operas, “Tosca” was a big hit right from day one, when it was first performed in 1900 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. “Tosca” is currently the eighth-most performed opera in America, although I’ve only seen it once myself …

“Pagliacci” (“The Clowns” in English) is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo, first performed in 1892 in Milan. Included in the opera is one of the most famous arias of all time, “Vesti la giubba” (“put on the costume”).

25. Green curtains? : ECOCIDE
An act of ecocide is the destruction of a natural environment as a result of an unnatural event. Something like a leak from a nuclear power station or a fire at a chemical plant could signal “curtains” for the surrounding biosphere.

27. Cartoon crony of Fancy-Fancy and Choo-Choo : TOP CAT
“Top Cat” is one of the first cartoon shows that I remember watching regularly. It was a Hanna-Barbera production that had an original run from 1961 to 1962, in which 30 episodes were made. Top Cat is the leader of a gang of alley cats in Manhattan, New York. The gang frequently came up against NYPD police officer Charlie Dibble, my favorite character in the show.

29. Mine entrance : ADIT
An adit is specific type of mine access, a horizontal shaft that extends into the mine. This can be compared with the more traditional vertical shaft that is used for access into most mines. Adits make sense when the ore is located inside a mountain or hill, as opposed to “underground”, as they allow the mine entrances to be on the valley floor.

30. Hooked projection on a bird feather : BARBICEL
If you run your fingers along the underside of a feather, you will feel a roughness. That roughness is caused by minute hooks known as barbicels. The barbicels have a role in the cross-attachment of feathers in a wing.

34. Drizzling clouds : STRATI
Stratus clouds (plural “strati”) are very common, and as they are wider than they are tall and flat along the bottom, we might just see them as haze in a featureless sky above us. Stratus clouds are basically the same as fog, but above the ground. Indeed, many stratus clouds are formed when morning fog lifts into the air as the ground heats up.

36. New York city near the Pennsylvania border : OLEAN
Olean is a city in New York State located on the Allegheny River. Louie Zamperini, the subject of the book and film called “Unbroken”, was born in Olean.

37. ___ Season Tip-Off (annual hoops event) : NIT
The NIT Season Tip-Off is a college basketball tournament taking place early in the season each year, in November. NIT stands for National Invitation Tournament.

42. Like seven of the 12 presidents between 1869 and 1923 : OHIO BORN
There are two states that have the nickname “Mother of Presidents”, namely Ohio and Virginia, although sometimes Ohio is known as “Modern Mother of Presidents”. Eight presidents were born in Virginia, from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson. Ohio was the birthplace of seven presidents, from Ulysses S. Grant to Warren G. Harding. Additionally, eight presidents hailed from Ohio at the time of their elections.

44. Part of E.M.S.: Abbr. : EMER
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

45. Conditional construct in computer programming : ELSE IF
Don’t ask me …

47. Clark Gable film that was a remake of his “Red Dust” : MOGAMBO
“Mogambo” is a 1953 film noted for its spectacular scenes set in the African jungle. “Mogambo” is actually a remake of a 1932 movie called “Red Dust”. Gable plays the romantic lead in both the original and the remake, even though they are filmed 21 years apart. Gable gets involved with Jean Harlow and Mary Astor in the original, and with a Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly in the remake.

54. Like Homer Simpson or Herman Munster : INEPT
“The Simpsons” is one of the most successful programs produced by the Fox Broadcasting Company. Homer Simpson’s catchphrase is “D’oh!”, which became such a famous exclamation that it has been included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) since 2001. “D’oh!” can be translated as “I should have thought of that!”

In the sixties sitcom “The Munsters”, Herman Munster was the patriarch of the family. Played by actor Fred Wynne, Herman had a Frankenstein’s monster-like appearance. That’s because he was supposedly created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein at the University of Heidelberg.

55. Big D campus : SMU
Southern Methodist University (SMU) is located in University Park, Texas (part of Dallas), and was founded in 1911. SMU is home to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

“Big D” is a nickname for the city of Dallas, Texas.

57. Novarro who played Ben-Hur : RAMON
Ramón Novarro was a Mexican actor who made it big in Hollywood in the Silent Era. Novarro often played the “Latin lover” and was noted for his good looks. His most successful film was in the 1925 version of “Ben-Hur”, when he caused quite a sensation by wearing very revealing costumes. Novarro was gay, something that caused him a lot of trouble in his career given the times. In 1968 he hired two young men through an agency to come to his L.A. home for sex, but the two brothers tortured Novarro for hours in the belief that he had a large sum of money in the house. Novarro choked to death on his own blood after the brutal beating, and the murderers left with just twenty dollars in cash.

62. Prefix with -lithic : NEO-
A neolith is a stone tool that was produced during the Neolithic Era, the last part of the Stone Age.

64. Doubly hyphenated ID : SSN
A Social Security number (SSN) is divided into three parts i.e AAA-GG-SSSS, Originally, the Area Number (AAA) was the code for the office that issued the card. Since 1973, the Area Number reflects the ZIP code from which the application was made. The GG in the SSN is the Group Number, and the SSSS in the number is the Serial Number. However, this is all moot, as since 2011 SSn’s are assigned randomly.

Down
1. When “Double, double toil and trouble” is chanted in “Macbeth” : ACT IV
As the three witches in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” are boiling up their evil brew, they call out all the exotic ingredients. Stirring away they also repeat several times the famous lines:
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

2. Largest employer in the Midwest’s Quad Cities, for short : DEERE
John Deere invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837. Prior to Deere’s invention, farmers used an iron or wooden plow that constantly had to be cleaned as rich soil stuck to its surfaces. The cast-steel plow was revolutionary as its smooth sides solved the problem of “stickiness”.

The Quad Cities are a group of five cities located on the Iowa-Illinois border and on either side of the Mississippi River. The Iowa cities are Davenport and Bettendorf, and the Illinois cities are Rock Island, Moline and East Moline. The grouping was originally just three cities (Davenport, Rock Island and Moline) and used the name “Tri-Cities”. This changed to “Quad Cities” as East Moline grew to a size comparable to the original three cities. With the growth of Bettendorf, the list of linked cities became five. There has been talk of changing the name to “Quint Cities”, but it doesn’t seem to be catching on.

3. NATO alphabet letter : OSCAR
The NATO phonetic alphabet is also called the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phonetic alphabet. It goes Alfa, Bravo, Charlie … Zulu.

4. Actress Christine : LAHTI
Christine Lahti is an actress probably best known for playing Dr. Kate Austen on the TV medical drama “Chicago Hope”. If you read “The Huffington Post” you might run across her as well, as Lahti is a contributing blogger.

5. Lily Tomlin character with a headset : ERNESTINE
Lily Tomlin is a comedian and actress who got her big break as a regular member of the cast of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in the late sixties and early seventies. Tomlin created several great characters on the show. My personal favorite is Ernestine, the condescending telephone operator with the marvelous nasal voice and snorting laugh. Ernestine was fond of saying “One ringy dingy …” I really enjoy Tomlin’s performances as an actress, notably in the movies “9 to 5” and “All of Me”, and on the TV show “The West Wing”. I went to her stage show many years ago in San Francisco, and just did not enjoy it. I was devastated …

6. Show sign : SRO
Standing room only (SRO)

8. Birds whose eggs are incubated by males : EMUS
Emu eggs are very large, with a thick shell that is dark-green in color. One emu egg weighs about the same as a dozen chicken eggs. It’s the males that incubate the eggs, a process that takes about eight weeks. During that time, the father hardly eats or drinks anything and loses quite a lot of weight.

9. AriZona competitor : NESTEA
Nestea is a brand of iced tea made by Nestlé. “Nestea” is a portmanteau of “Nestlé” and “tea”.

The AriZona Beverage Company makes a line of flavored iced teas. Paradoxically, the company is based in Woodbury, New York, and not Arizona.

11. Prefix with linguistics : SOCIO-
The sociology of language is the study of the effect that language has on society, whereas sociolinguistics is the study of the effect that society has on language.

12. Pride of Moscow? : MISS IDAHO
Moscow, Idaho is home to the University of Idaho. In its early days the city was known as Paradise Valley, and the name changed to Moscow in 1875. The choice of “Moscow” seems unexplained, but it is more likely related to Moscow, Pennsylvania than Moscow, Russia.

13. One making People look good? : ART EDITOR
There used to be a “People” page in each issue of “Time” magazine. This page was spun-off in 1974 as a publication of its own, which we now call “People” magazine. “People” is noted for its annual special editions with features such as “Best & Worst Dressed” and “Sexiest Man Alive”. The “Sexiest Man Alive” edition now appears at the end of November each year. The first choice for “Sexiest Man” was Mel Gibson, in 1985.

14. Ozone layer issue : DEPLETION
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are the propellants that were once used in aerosols. CFCs make their way up into the ozone layer and trigger a chain reaction that converts ozone (O3) into regular oxygen (O2). That conversion creates “holes” in the ozone layer. Regular O2 is good stuff, but we need O3 to absorb harmful UV radiation raining down on us. CFC is not good stuff …

22. Seal of office for some pharaohs : SCARAB
Scarabs were amulets in ancient Egypt. Scarabs were modelled on the dung beetle, as it was viewed as a symbol of the cycle of life.

24. Bit of footwear, for short : MOC
“Moc” is short for “moccasin”, the type of shoe.

26. Price abbr. : CTS
The original one-cent coin was introduced in the US in 1793 and was made of 100% copper. The composition varied over time, and was 100% bronze up to the 1940s. During WWII there was a shortage of copper to make bronze, so the US Mint switched to zinc-coated steel for production of one-cent coins in 1943. The steelie is the only coin ever issued by the US mint that can be picked up by a magnet. Today’s one-cent coin is comprised mainly of zinc.

28. Awards that have had a Healthcare category since 2009 : CLIOS
The Clio Awards are the Oscars of the advertising world and are named after Clio, the Greek Muse of History. Clio was also the recorder of great deeds, the proclaimer and celebrator of great accomplishments and a source of inspiration and genius. The Clio Awards were first presented in 1959.

30. Unconventional sorts : BOHEMIANS
Bohemia covers most of the Czech Republic. Centuries ago, it was wrongly believed that gypsies came from Bohemia, giving rise to the term “Bohemian” meaning a “gypsy of society”.

31. Tender towards one’s exes? : ALIMONIES
The word “alimony” derives from the Latin “alimonia”, meaning “nourishment, food, support”.

32. Failed to honor : RENEGED ON
To renege on something is to back out of it. It’s a word commonly used in card games like bridge and whist. A renege is when a player doesn’t follow suit, even though there may be a card of the suit led in his/her hand.

43. Super Bowl whose pregame show honored the Apollo astronauts : III
Super Bowl I was played in January 1967 between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Packers emerged victorious in a game with a score of 35-10. That game was officially known as the AFL-NFL Championship Game, as the name “Super Bowl” wasn’t applied until two seasons later. That “first” Super Bowl is now known as Super Bowl III and was played between the New York Jets and the Baltimore Colts. The Jets came out on top.

48. Series often seen with S’s on the ends : MTWTF
Those would be the days of the week.

50. ’60s president : DAVIS
The Confederate States of America (CSA) set up government in 1861 just before Abraham Lincoln took office. Jefferson Davis was selected as President of the CSA at its formation and retained the post for the life of the government.

51. Some drivers with “slow-moving vehicle” reflectors : AMISH
The Amish are a group of Christian churches, a subgroup of the Mennonite churches. The Amish church originated in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693 when it was founded by Jakob Ammann. It was Ammann who gave the name to the Amish people. Many Amish people came to Pennsylvania in the 18th century.

52. Sidekick of film and TV : TONTO
On the television version of “The Lone Ranger”, Tonto was played by the actor Jay Silverheels. Famously, the Lone Ranger’s horse was called Silver and Tonto’s mount was named Scout. But in the early shows, Tonto rode a horse called White Feller.

53. Common Allen wrench? : ANGST
Although I’m no Woody Allen fan, he has said some memorable things, for example:

– I don’t know the question, but sex is definitely the answer.
– Some guy hit my car fender the other day, and I said unto him, “Be fruitful and multiply.” But not in those words.
– Tradition is the illusion of permanence.
– Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.
– Sun is bad for you. Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat … college.

56. Ice Bucket Challenge, e.g. : MEME
A “meme” (short for “mineme”) is a cultural practice or idea that is passed on verbally or by repetition from one person to another. The term lends itself very well to the online world where links, emails, files etc. are so easily propagated.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a viral phenomenon in which participants are challenged to be filmed having a bucket of ice water poured over their heads. Each participant then gets to nominate up to three other people to do the same. Usually the nominees are given a day or two to comply, but can make a charitable donation is they want to avoid the icy shower. Happily, many participants opt to take the challenge, and also make a donation.

60. N.L. West team, on scoreboards : ARI
The Arizona Diamondbacks joined Major League Baseball’s National League in 1998. By winning the World Series in 2001, the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion team to do so in Major League history.

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For the sake of completion, here is a full listing of all the answers:
Across
1. Growing group : ADOLESCENTS
12. Extremely, in modern lingo : MAD
15. Hollywood star whose grandfather was the Cuban patriot José Martí : CESAR ROMERO
16. Home of the city and county of Waterford: Abbr. : IRE
17. 1980s electronic innovation from Detroit : TECHNO MUSIC
18. Sprint Cup Series sponsor : STP
19. Steamed : IRATE
20. Many an attendance fig. : EST
21. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Dan : ISSEL
23. Opera genre for “Tosca” and “Pagliacci” : VERISMO
25. Green curtains? : ECOCIDE
27. Cartoon crony of Fancy-Fancy and Choo-Choo : TOP CAT
29. Mine entrance : ADIT
30. Hooked projection on a bird feather : BARBICEL
34. Drizzling clouds : STRATI
36. New York city near the Pennsylvania border : OLEAN
37. ___ Season Tip-Off (annual hoops event) : NIT
39. “Hurray!” : WAHOO!
40. Thwart : HINDER
42. Like seven of the 12 presidents between 1869 and 1923 : OHIO BORN
44. Part of E.M.S.: Abbr. : EMER
45. Conditional construct in computer programming : ELSE IF
47. Clark Gable film that was a remake of his “Red Dust” : MOGAMBO
49. Personal info such as education and work history : BIODATA
54. Like Homer Simpson or Herman Munster : INEPT
55. Big D campus : SMU
57. Novarro who played Ben-Hur : RAMON
58. E.M.S. offering : AID
59. Hydrophilic : WATER-LOVING
62. Prefix with -lithic : NEO-
63. Ones using slides : TROMBONISTS
64. Doubly hyphenated ID : SSN
65. Half-volley in tennis, e.g. : FINESSE SHOT

Down
1. When “Double, double toil and trouble” is chanted in “Macbeth” : ACT IV
2. Largest employer in the Midwest’s Quad Cities, for short : DEERE
3. NATO alphabet letter : OSCAR
4. Actress Christine : LAHTI
5. Lily Tomlin character with a headset : ERNESTINE
6. Show sign : SRO
7. Burst, in a way : COME OPEN
8. Birds whose eggs are incubated by males : EMUS
9. AriZona competitor : NESTEA
10. Half of hex- : TRI-
11. Prefix with linguistics : SOCIO-
12. Pride of Moscow? : MISS IDAHO
13. One making People look good? : ART EDITOR
14. Ozone layer issue : DEPLETION
22. Seal of office for some pharaohs : SCARAB
24. Bit of footwear, for short : MOC
26. Price abbr. : CTS
28. Awards that have had a Healthcare category since 2009 : CLIOS
30. Unconventional sorts : BOHEMIANS
31. Tender towards one’s exes? : ALIMONIES
32. Failed to honor : RENEGED ON
33. Defendant’s complaint : BAD RAP
35. Good deal : TWO FOR ONE
38. Area with lawns and picket fences, informally : THE BURBS
41. Follower of 50-Down : REB
43. Super Bowl whose pregame show honored the Apollo astronauts : III
46. Unappreciated by : LOST ON
48. Series often seen with S’s on the ends : MTWTF
50. ’60s president : DAVIS
51. Some drivers with “slow-moving vehicle” reflectors : AMISH
52. Sidekick of film and TV : TONTO
53. Common Allen wrench? : ANGST
56. Ice Bucket Challenge, e.g. : MEME
60. N.L. West team, on scoreboards : ARI
61. Start of many California place names : LOS

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